Posts tagged ‘Brendon Stimson’

Flashback – Newsies #8

 

Originally, when I started posting Flashback posts, I wanted to rehash all 16 Newsies performances that I have seen. I quickly realized that it would be overkill for my blog, for me, and for anyone crazy enough to try to read all of my posts. So I decided I would just get through what I could, and I’d share more the week before my one year anniversary (which better happen, Disney. Why are you only selling tickets through March 17th? March 28th is not all that far off, AND then you’d have a year run under your belt. Whatever, though. I’m not complaining).

At any rate, I only got to my 8th performance. Which means I’ve only shown you half of the performances that I’ve seen since my first time. Which is convenient for a couple of reasons.

  1. I’m pretty sure I’ve officially shared all of my stage door pictures with you guys. Which is good, right?
  2. These were the performances that I didn’t always write a blog post for, so that means that you have now gotten a little taste of every Newsies show I’ve seen.
  3. My eighth time seeing Newsies was July 2, 2012.

To those of you who aren’t a “Newsies Stalker” (thanks, Mommy) or, as the cast calls me, an “Ultimate Fansie” (I knew I liked you guys for a reason), July 2nd is a very important date in Newsies the Musical history. It’s the first time that Jeremy Jordan DID NOT GO ON AS JACK KELLY.

WHAT!?!?! I know. You’re probably still confused. It also marks Brendon Stimson’s Jack Kelly debut. Since today is his birthday, that’s a pretty interesting coincidence, right? The last show I share with you in honor of my 6 month Newsieversary is the one where today’s birthday boy made his Jack Kelly debut.

It gets better. My first time seeing the show, 6 months ago, was also a special day in Newsies the Musical history. Why? Because Kara Lindsay (who plays Katherine Plumber) did not, in fact, perform on March 28th. Her understudy, Laurie Veldheer, went on without a put-in-rehearsal for the Broadway show under her belt.

That’s enough of the fun facts, I think.

Time for some picture flashbacks!!!

 

September 28, 2012 at 12:00 pm Leave a comment

Flashback – Newsies #4

I can’t remember exactly why I decided to go see Newsies for my fourth time.

I think it might have been because I had just gotten the CD of pictures from my parents’ visit, and there were some of Brendon’s mom and me (I had randomly met her in Times Square with my parents). I think I had wanted to give the pictures to Brendon to give his mom. I don’t know for sure though.

Let’s be honest…that doesn’t even matter. The point is that I did see Newsies for the fourth time (most likely because I wanted to) and that it was on May 11, 2012. At this performance, I got to see both of the swings on! Go Michael and Jack!

Michael Fatica was on for Ryan Steele (Specs!). Jack Scott was on for Ephraim Sykes (Mush–”I don’t know about that, but we sure scared the bejeebees out of Weisel!).

September 26, 2012 at 12:00 pm Leave a comment

Flashback!

The end of this week is a really exciting day for me. It’s my SIX MONTH NEWSIES-VERSARY! Which is, of course, way more exciting than I can ever express. I waited for this show for YEARS! YEARS I TELL YOU! YEARS!

It finally came to be on September 15, 2011 at the Papermill Playhouse in New Jersey.

Which was great. It really was. But I wanted MORE! This show deserved better. It had a great message, an inspiring story, and had been considerably fixed up from it’s movie days. I dreamed of Broadway. Not for myself, of course. I can’t sing or dance, and I don’t know enough about acting. I dreamed a dream of Broadway for the show, the movie, the story that made me believe in the impossible.

It was announced around Thanksgiving 2011 that Newsies would make the leap across the river to Broadway, and I felt my dreams coming true. IT WAS HAPPENING! WHILE I WAS IN NYC!!!

I first saw the Broadway version on March 28, 2012. It was the last preview performance for the show that would take New York by storm.

So today, in honor of this countdown to my SIX MONTH NEWSIES-VERSARY, I present to you pictures from my first time seeing Newsies. Hopefully you all enjoy them as much as I do.

September 24, 2012 at 12:00 pm 1 comment

Inspired to Tap

Like many people from my generation, I grew up watching Disney movies. I was born during the triumphant return of the Disney musical…Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin. These were pretty popular when I was a kid growing up.

What wasn’t popular were the other movies I was watching. They were unknown to kids in my age group. In fact, a lot of my friend’s parents didn’t even know what these movies were. Fortunately, as I’ve gotten older I’ve found more people who loved these very movies that were so unknown when I was younger.

I’m talking about the old classics. Singing in the Rain. On the Town. Anchors Aweigh. Easter Parade. Top Hat. Holiday Inn. Swing Time. These are some of the more popular ones. I loved these movies growing up. I used to secretly tap and stomp around the house thinking that I looked just as cool as Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire.

Trust me, I didn’t. And it probably sounded horrible.

I took ballet for a few years, but I never asked my parents for tap classes. I just continued to be mesmerized by the skill of these dancers and to pretend that I could do what they did.

As I get older, I still love these movies and watch them regularly. And I still am mesmerized by the incredible skill that is put on display. I love watching tap. I always have. But I never bothered to take a single class.

Watching Newsies the Musical this past spring made me ask myself why. Why haven’t I taken a tap class? I like it. I think it looks and sounds spectacular. Most of my all-time favorite movies have tap numbers in them. Many of my all-time favorite songs have tap sounds recorded into them.

So why haven’t I bothered trying to dance? I excused myself saying that I didn’t start when I was young, so there was no point in starting later in life.

Then Newsies came out with another “Meet the Newsies” video. This one was about Garett Hawe, who plays Albert and Bill in the show. Watch the video:

I watched this video over and over this summer. Garett’s words stirred something inside of me. For almost two months, I watched this video at least once a day trying to figure it out.

I began to realize that Garett’s words had stirred my desire to start dancing again. I re-watched the “Meet the Newsies – Morris Delancey” video (because Mike does some pretty amazing tap here). I could feel the desire growing. I watched a video of Brendon Stimson being interviewed by Alpha NYC, and heard him talk about how he didn’t start dancing until he was in high school. Maybe it wasn’t too late…but I couldn’t.

Then Jack Scott tweeted about Singing in the Rain, and I popped in my DVD and watched the movie. Gene Kelly really could dance! I began to wish and dream that I could truly dance. Maybe not as well as Jack, Brendon, Mike, Garett, or Gene. But what if I could?

I stayed up late that night watching videos of King of New York, Gene Kelly, and Fred Astaire. The next day, I re-watched the “Meet the Newsies – Albert” video a few more times.

When I was younger, I was a little overweight and even more awkward. Finding theatre and dance gave me confidence, and with that I was able to feel more comfortable with the person I was on the inside. I became a lot more active and it set me on track for a healthier lifestyle.

I spent a lot of time thinking about Garett’s words, about the Newsies, about how many of them had been inspired by Newsies the Movie, by Gene Kelly, by Fred Astaire. I thought about how much I admired them for their commitment to their fans, to their art. I made a decision:

I would be taking a tap class.

I had my first class last Monday, and I pretty much sounded the same way I did as a little three-year old stomping around the kitchen. Which might have been discouraging if I hadn’t had quite so much fun just wearing the tap shoes.

We learned the basic steps, and started practicing what my teacher called “The Anthem of Tap” or the “Shim Sham.” I’ve been practicing privately a little every day (except Tuesday because I went to go see Garett as Davey in Newsies and didn’t get home until late…but I did a couple steps in the subway to make up for it). It’s a lot of fun, and I’m really happy about my decision. I can’t wait for my class this Monday!

A HUGE thank you to Garett Hawe for getting me to think about this again, and to Brendon Stimson, Mike Faist, and Jack Scott for helping to tip the scale in favor of dance! You are all amazing and inspiring. I love watching you perform!

September 21, 2012 at 12:00 pm 1 comment

Five Fabulous Friday Favorites! (July 6, 2012)

Here’s a list of some favorite things from the past week!

Favorite Fourth of July Treats:

Favorite Fruit (double entendre for a few people):

There are only four people who will get the double meaning of this…

Favorite Moment:

I don’t really have any photos of this or anything, but on Monday (as many of you know) Brendon Stimson made his Jack Kelly debut, and I went to go see it for many reasons, including the fact that I met his mom in Times Square and she talked about how she hoped Brendon would get to go on one day. Well, he did, and he was phenomenal, as I’ve said before. But my favorite moment was when he came out of the stage door that night, and when he saw me he said “Hey Steph, how’s it going?” which pretty much sealed the deal on that performance being the most memorable one.

Favorite Smile:

Isaac’s Live Lip-Dub Proposal is adorable. It brings happy tears to my eyes.

Favorite YouTube Video:

This video is just plain amazing, but Ben Fankhauser and Andrew Keenan-Bolger might be my favorites in it. I think Ben is actually singing about Andrew

Hope you enjoyed! Share your Friday Favorites in the comments below!!! Thanks all!

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July 6, 2012 at 12:00 pm Leave a comment

Newsies Softball July 5, 2012

Today was a sad day for me. It was my last time getting to see Broadway Show League Softball games until August! That’s going to be a LOOOOOOONG wait for me.

Fortunately, I did get to see Newsies play today. They had a really small team there today, but they played well. Almost everyone on the Newsies of New York team got to base at some point in the game, which was hard to do because every batter started with a 1-1 count. That meant the pitcher only needed to throw two strikes to get them out.  The Newsies hit well, and rounded the bases a few times. Their fielding was great today, too. There were a couple of balls that they didn’t quite get to, but there were definitely some moments when the Newsies skills were on it. Today, you could definitely tell that Jeremy Jordan has a little baseball experience under his belt. Brendon Stimson made a couple of good catches today. Julie Foldesi put in great effort as the catcher, and Brady pitched beautifully, covering bases as needed. Unfortunately, Once a Salesman played a little better, and we lost.

On a sidenote, Cassie (spelling might be off here, she runs the sound booth at Newsies) made a couple of killer catches for Davenport in the second game when they played against Book of Mormon!

July 5, 2012 at 1:00 pm Leave a comment

Wednesday Wishes (July 4, 2012)

Well, I’m definitely struggling with my wishes again. Today, though, it’s not because I don’t have anything I want to wish for, because I do. But my brain is still fuzzy from seeing Brendon Stimson as Jack Kelly on Monday night. Literally, I don’t know if I’ll ever get over that. So I’m trying to sort through my wishes and do something more organized than what I was originally writing for this post…which was haphazard at best.

Per Chris’s suggestion (he’s one of my community members), I’m going to do a “Fourth of July” themed list of wishes. Now, my parents are the ones who buy the big kit of fireworks. You know, this thing:

Of course, we buy this because it has my dad’s favorite firework in it.

Anyway, the point is that since I had fireworks going off in my head (they still are) because of the awesomeness of seeing Brendon Stimson as Jack Kelly on Monday, and the fact that today is the Fourth of July which is typically celebrated with a show of fireworks, I thought that I’d share a list of the fireworks I wish I could see this Fourth of July, since I won’t be seeing any of the ones they buy this year.

Devil’s Delight (also, my dad’s favorite)

Pop-Its, technically not a firework, but my cousins always have some that they throw around all day.

It doesn’t feel like July 4th without this one, for some reason. I think I still like it from when purple was my favorite color.

TNT Rose Blossoms, but I couldn’t find a picture of their packaging. They usually come in Red, Yellow, and Green. You light them and then toss them into the street and they spin around and give a show of bright colors.

It’s definitely not the Fourth of July without sparklers!

So there you have it. All the fireworks I wish I could see today. What fireworks do you wish you could see/light?

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July 4, 2012 at 12:00 pm Leave a comment

Brendon Stimson Is Jack Kelly

Many of my friends know that after last Saturday (which you read about yesterday), the next time I was going to see Newsies wasn’t until Sunday, July 8 with Gigi (Twitter friends and fellow Fansie). Many of you also know that one little tweet from Jeremy Jordan yesterday changed all of that:

Come anyway? Psh. I wasn’t planning on coming, but you better believe I’ll be getting a ticket into this show one way or another.

The second I heard Brendon Stimson was going on as Jack, I was ready to run to the theatre, and it was barely 1pm when I found out. I couldn’t believe it. I’ve wanted to see him as Jack Kelly since I found out he was the understudy (not that I don’t love Jeremy Jordan, because I do, but I love Brendon’s acting. When he’s Oscar, I’m scared of him and don’t like his character, but when he’s out there as a Newsie, I’m in love with the adorable Ike. He’s that good). The desire was only heightened a few weeks later when I met Brendon’s mom in Times Square (What are the odds, right?), and got to talk to her about her son and how he would hopefully get to go on as Jack Kelly at some point.

Brendon's Mom and I in Times Square April 10, 2012

Brendon’s Mom and I in the Disney Store Times Square     April 10, 2012

So of course, when I saw Jeremy’s tweet, I knew I was going to need to see the show. And then my twitter feed was just getting filled with more and more comments about Brendon being in the show, and I just kept getting more excited. I got to the theatre around 4:45 and went straight to the lotto guys and asked if I could start the standing room only line. They laughed and said yes, and followed me out to let everyone in the extremely long lotto line know I wasn’t cutting them.

I was anxious waiting there. I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to win, but I was also pretty sure that I was going to get a SRO ticket because the show was sold out on Ticketmaster. I just wanted to get a ticket in my hand. While waiting, I think I told everyone about how Brendon was going on as Jack Kelly, and how excited I was about it. Basically, some random 30-odd people who were waiting to get lotto and standing-room only tickets found out that I wanted to see Brendon as Jack Kelly. Some of them even asked if I was worried about hyping it up too much for myself (I suppose they had a point, but I ignored them).

After the excruciatingly long lotto drawing where I did indeed lose, the standing room only crowd got to move forward to buy tickets. As I was at the front of the line, the ticketing guy saw me first, and recognized me. He asked if I’d managed to find Nelson (I had), and gave me my ticket and change, and said to enjoy the show.

I then went outside to catch up with the lotto guys to get a picture with them, since I see them so often, it only seemed right to capture the moment (FINALLY):

The Newsies Lotto Guys and I - July 2, 2012

The Newsies Lotto Guys and I

As the realization of having a ticket to see Brendon as Jack Kelly hit me, I saw Jack Scott and Kara Lindsay approach the theatre. I asked them if they could stop for a minute because I had managed to track down a copy of his trading card and wanted him to sign it. While that was happening, I told them I heard Brendon was playing Jack tonight, and that I rushed to the theatre to get a ticket to see him.

After they entered the theatre, I let myself react to having a ticket in my hand. I was definitely crying tears of joy, and I could feel all these wonderful emotions welling up inside of me. I had so much energy, I wanted to do some of the Newsies’ dances, but as I can’t dance (quite literally), I settled for walking laps around the theatre’s block for the next hour.

When I noticed Nelson, I went up and gave him a hug and said thank you for Saturday again. He asked if I was seeing the show, and I told him that I heard Brendon was going to be Jack Kelly tonight, so I had to see the show, and then Brady walked by and said that I couldn’t possibly be seeing the show. Once again, I told him I was there to see Brendon.

At this point, you can see that I was in fact truly excited about this. It’s quite possible that I was more excited to see Brendon play the role of Jack Kelly that I was before first seeing the show.

So excited to see @BrenStims as Jack Kelly!!! This is going to be amazing! Break a leg! I'm so excited for you!!

My “I get to see Brendon as Jack Kelly!” Tweet

At any rate, my excitement was justified. The show was amazing. Sure there were a couple of mistakes, but I forgot that that wasn’t how the show was supposed to go because Brendon was such a professional on the stage. For example, his first time meeting Katherine, he’s supposed to be fully dressed already. There were some, uh, difficulties getting the shirt on in time, but if you didn’t already know that (and even if you did), you didn’t notice that it was off until you relived the show on the subway ride home. He really did a great job during every single part of his performance.

Brendon’s performance was so beautiful, I literally cried during the entire show. My eyes were sparkling and I could not stop smiling. He truly commanded the audience’s attention when he was on stage. And his singing was so wonderful! I was surprised to find that I loved him singing “I Never Planned On You.” Normally, I like the song, but I don’t swoon during it. I did some hardcore swooning with Brendon singing that song. Also, his facial expressions were perfect during every single song. “Santa Fe” caused my heart to break. He did such a good job tapping into the emotions there. He matched Jeremy’s skill in that song every step of the way. I loved “Watch What Happens (Reprise),” which I always do, and Brendon definitely brought something a little different to the table with that one. And of course, “Something to Believe In” caused my heart to melt. It was so beautiful and gorgeous. I couldn’t believe it. I was stunned and  ridiculously happy and overjoyed.

I’ll definitely be on a high from this show at least until the next time I see it (Sunday July 8!!!). I was so happy and joyful during the stage door experience, and so many people came out (even the elusive Kyle Coffman, who immediately tried to say that he was 2 for 2…it’s 2 for 8, buddy, but since you asked about Jasmine’s video, I’ll let it slide), that it only added to the magic. I got pictures with most of them, which I’ll include below.

The highlight of my night was definitely much simpler than seeing the whole show. It was Brendon’s stage door. He came out, and when he got to me he said “Hey Steph, how’s it going?” He remembered me! Of course, I think I mentioned him in like 20 tweets that night (not really that many), but still. he stopped to talk to me for a minute, and I got a picture with the night’s big star and everything was right in the world. I was officially on Cloud 9, and I don’t plan on getting off anytime soon. Based on Brendon’s tweet, I think he’s feeling the same way:

Truly a night to remember. Thanks to the amazing cast for supporting me through that rush. Thanks for all the twitter love!

Brendon’s Post “Jack Kelly” Debut Tweet

Basically, the moral of this post is “Brendon Stimson makes a fantastic Jack Kelly, so if you get the opportunity to see him in this role, JUMP ON IT! It’s totally worth it!!!” Oh, and “If you get front seats to see Brendon Stimson as Jack Kelly, I’m ridiculously jealous of you.”

July 3, 2012 at 12:00 pm Leave a comment

Newsies at Barnes and Noble

Friday, June 22, 2012 was amazing. June 22 was the Barnes & Noble Live event at Barnes & Noble on Lexington and 86th Street featuring some of my favorite people in the world.

Yep. Newsies. Performing at Barnes & Noble. Signing the CD. Harvey Fierstein and Jack Feldman and Jeremy Jordan and Kara Lindsay and Ben Fankhauser and Andrew Keenan-Bolger.

So of course I got there super early and milled around until the line got a little longer. I bought 3 CDs (buy 2 get one free? Yes please.) to get one signed for my mommy (she thinks its pretty cool, and I know its awesome), and one for me, and one extra (maybe for a sister?).

When I wasn’t going to be the first person in line, I wandered over and got in line and hung out with other fansies and waited for the boys to show up.

Time passed, blah, blah, blah…and then the boys started to arrive. The Newsies are all absolutely amazing. I love every last one of them. They are so sweet and so kind and so adorable.

Anyway, they finally let us in to get seats and we got all settled. The staff told us we were getting three things. Three!

  1. a performance by the cast of the Tony Award Winning Music
  2. a picture with the cast
  3. a chance to get our CDs signed.

Yeah. That’s right. A picture with the Newsies. Anyone remember my wish list from last Wednesday? (See here) Wish granted! Thanks Disney and Barnes & Noble!

The boys started performing, and Kara sang Watch What Happens and Jeremy joined her for Something to Believe In and I about died. It was amazing, flawless, beautiful.

Then we took pictures with the cast as we slipped into line to get our CDs signed. They were all amazing and it was nice to talk to them and say thank you for being amazing!

June 26, 2012 at 12:00 pm Leave a comment

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6 Months of Newsies on Broadway!

Seeing the show to celebrate!September 28th, 2012
It's been SIX GLORIOUS MONTHS!!!! How about at least six more?
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